BP accuses Halliburton over Gulf spill
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.In a high-stakes court filing, BP has accused Halliburton of destroying evidence that could be used to show it was partially to blame for the notorious Deepwater Horizon oil spill.
In evidence filed in a New Orleans federal court, BP claims that Halliburton damaged evidence about the quality of the cement slurry that it provided for the oil well that blew out last year and caused the disastrous spill. An oil well must be cemented properly to avoid blowouts.
In a court filing on Monday, BP accused Halliburton employees doing an internal investigation of the Macondo disaster of discarding and destroying early test results they performed on the same batch of cement slurry used in the Macondo well.
BP said Halliburton's chief cement mixer for Gulf projects testified in depositions that the cement slurry seemed "thin" to him, but that he chose not to write about his findings to his bosses out of fear he would be misinterpreted.
BP asked US District Judge Carl Barbier to penalise Halliburton and order a court-sponsored computer forensic team to recover some of the missing evidence. Halliburton said that the accusations were untrue.
The allegations in the 310-page motion ratcheted up the showdown among BP and contractors Halliburton and Transocean. The three companies have been sparring over blame for the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon blast, which killed 11 workers and led to the release of 206 million gallons of crude oil into the Gulf of Mexico. So far, BP, the majority owner of the Macondo well, has footed the bill for the emergency response and clean-up.
The first trial over the Deepwater Horizon disaster is scheduled to start on 27 February in New Orleans.
Subscribe to Independent Premium to bookmark this article
Want to bookmark your favourite articles and stories to read or reference later? Start your Independent Premium subscription today.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments